Collectors Club Collection Fall 2024

VINTAGE HIGHLIGHTS
It was a dark and stormy night…and that was just the first day of 2017! Yes, 2017 started out like a number of Oregon vintages have started out: cold, wet and rainy. In fact, to start out 2017 we had snow. Snow shut down the winery for a number of days in January and this cold weather foretold the following cool spring. Bud break was late in relation to the past 5 years (late April instead of early April), but more normal when you look at our 40+ growing seasons. The cool, wet weather was not to last, and the heat volcano erupted in mid-June to the tune of 95°F! Thanks to the wonderful deluge of wet weather in the winter and spring of 2017, our vines were able to handle the scorching hot summer. Our underground barrel cellar reached temps we have never seen before (in the 70s) and the expanding wine pushed some bungs out. The cool spring helped push out harvest, but the hot summer helped make sure the grapes were ready to go with little delay. We picked over a six week time period, which is a week or so longer than normal due to the rain events. The crop was huge — one of the largest we have seen since 2014. The fruit was ripe and very clean, boding well for quality.

WINEMAKING
The grapes from this block were carefully hand harvested over two days, the highest section of the block was picked at a 1°Brix level higher than the lower section of the same block to average 23.2°Brix for the overall picking blend. The sections of the block are not that far apart but the slightest variation in elevation can make all the difference on the Sokol Blosser estate. The clusters were then sorted by hand to remove any flawed bunches and 100% de-stemmed directly into their fermentation vessels. This block was fermented slowly in our 3-ton open top stainless steel tanks and pressed at dryness to capture the fruit and manage tannin development. This wine was aged entirely in French oak barrels for 17 months with minimal SO2 levels. There were 24 barrels hand selected for this final 2017 Big Tree Block blend. 25% of this blend represents wine aged in new oak barrels.

WINE PROFILE
Our 2017 Big Tree Block Pinot Noir has a light and floral nose. This wine has a complex mouthfeel and soft tannins with a pop of pink peppercorn.

PAIRINGS
Serve with hearty meats like lamb burger on a brioche bun with a healthy schmear of smoked ketchup.

SCORES
94 points – James Suckling
90 points – Wine & Spirits

THE STORY
What is a boy to do when his favorite climbing tree is ruthlessly chopped down by his father in the name of grape growing? Well, Alex Sokol Blosser is still trying to figure that one out. Until then, Alex drinks Big Tree Pinot Noir and thinks about climbing the strong limbs of a solitary, beautiful, and graceful Big Leaf Maple Tree that used to lie smack dab in the middle of a block of Pinot Noir. Big Tree is strong like its namesake with the most powerful tannins of any Pinot Noir coming off our estate. Shallow soil on this site makes the vines struggle more than the rest of our vineyard and produces strength in the wine.